Small Things
by LeDbrite
Summary: "Life's too short to find a matching pair of socks." But because life is so short, sometimes it's the small things, like a matching pair of socks, that can matter the most.


A/N: Just a small father/daughter one-shot. Might be slightly OOC as I don't have much experience with writing OUaT's characters.

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"Papa?"

His daughter's voice drifted to the kitchen, reaching Jefferson's ears as he finished adding the final touches to her cup of tea. A dash of milk, and a dollop of honey, just the way she liked it.

"What, Grace?" he answered, a smile coming to his face, leaving the kitchen and heading upstairs to her room. It warmed his heart to hear her call for him, touching the part of him that had become cold during their years apart. He would never tire of hearing her sweet, beautiful, voice back in his life.

The once quiet house was often filled with the sound of her laughter, chasing away the silence that had habitually plagued it when he'd been alone. At night, he found himself lingering outside her door, needing to make sure that she was still there, that it was still real, and that he hadn't strayed into some new madness. He had been without her for so long, had been so close the entire time, but unable to reach out. To her, it didn't seem like much time had passed, but he had counted all twenty-eight of those years. Finally able to look back over the years and see the silver lining, now that they'd been reunited, he was glad in the fact that none of that time had been stolen from them.

"Grace?" he questioned, not having received a reply the first time. Tapping on her partially opened door with the back of his knuckles, he carefully pushed it open.

Grace. The name his wife had chosen; his daughter's true name. It had been odd at first, after they'd found each other again, to hear everyone else call her Paige, but he had quickly realized that Grace was the special name between the two of them, only them, which only he could call. The rest of Storybrooke knew her has as Paige, but she was his Grace.

"Hey, what is it?" he asked, stepping into her room.

Turning away from her dresser, she held up three white socks for him to see, completely dressed for school aside from her bare feet. "I can't find a matching pair of socks," she said anxiously.

"Ah," he stalled, rather helplessly, drawing the syllable out, blinking in dumbfounded confusion at the small articles of clothing.

Reconnecting to his fatherly instincts, remembering how it used to be, was slow going. He'd spent twenty-eight years regretting his actions, watching from a far, and fantasizing how things could have gone differently. Being in human companionship, especially that of his daughter, was a skill he had become rusty at.

"You have three perfectly good socks here, why don't you wear these?" he suggested.

"I wanted to wear my favorite pair though," she explained softly, holding a sock out to him, her brown eyes darting between his blue ones to see if he understood.

Giving a reassuring smile, not seeing what made this sock different from the others, he examined it dutifully. Turning it about, his eye landed on the small white bunny emblem upon the cuff of the sock. Smile growing into one of genuine warmth, an expression of touched wonder crossed his face as he brushed the motif with his thumb. "That is special," he murmured heavily, throat constricting.

"They remind me of you," she confided, a shy eagerness entering her smile at the revelation.

"Do these have animals as well?" he asked, glancing at the other socks that she still held.

"Yes, a wolf and a swan," she replied, brandishing them for him to see.

Of course they would, he mused wryly. Aloud, he replied matter of factly with a twinkle in his eyes, "Clearly, we'll have to find this one's mate."

"But I have to leave for school soon," she pointed out fretfully, reasonably, though there was hope in her eyes. "There isn't enough time."

"Yes there is," he stated, giving her a confident smile. Kneeling down so that he was at her level, he said conspiratorially, "Tell you what, why don't you go have breakfast, and I'll look for your sock. Then you'll be ready for school on time." Watching her face, hoping she'd like the suggestion, he asked, "Sound good?"

Bestowing a brilliant smile upon him, and flinging her arms around his neck, she murmured a breathless, "Thank you, Papa!" before dashing down the stairs.

Invigorated by her ecstatic response, he began his search by upending her sock drawer. Checking each sock, pairing each of them with their mate as he found them, he left the mess scattered across the floor when he didn't find the desired sock. He'd come back and clean up once she left for school.

Going to the laundry room, he dug through the clean whites, wishing that he had taken the time and sorted things. Greatly hampered by the task of having to expressly separate the socks from the other whites, he was mercifully relieved of the tedious chore when his gaze fell upon the white rabbit sitting innocently on top of the sock pile he'd started. As impossible as finding a needle in a haystack was, he had miraculously found it without scouring the pile from top to bottom as he'd been preparing to do.

Snatching it up from the pile eagerly, he bore it triumphantly to the kitchen where Grace was putting away her dishes.

"You found it!" she cried excitedly, taking it eagerly and holding it alongside its mate.

"Better hurry and put them on," Jefferson commented fondly, unable to help the surge of pride that filled him to watch her, to see the happiness emanate from her beautiful eyes as she beamed at him. Glad that the act of finding her missing sock, such a small act in itself, had meant so much to her.

Heeding his words, she slipped the socks on, quickly followed by her shoes, before shrugging on the backpack. Giving him his customary hug, she whispered into his chest, "I love you, Papa."

Embracing her, holding her tightly, he dropped a kiss on top of her head. "I love you too," he answered hoarsely.

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A/N: Thanks for reading, hopefully you enjoyed it! =)


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